Measures based on past examples no longer suffice. Climate change-induced disasters are already more frequent and severe than had been envisaged, exceeding the thresholds that can be tolerated by human society. How should we prepare to face this reality? The Climate Change Adaptation Act, aimed at promoting adaptation measures, stipulates that national and local governments, businesses, and citizens should work together to implement such measures. Another reason why we must take effective adaptation measures without delay is to ensure that the next generation can enjoy comfortable lives. Initiatives grounded in scientific knowledge are being implemented across Japan.

The possibility that climate change might have a substantial impact not only on the body but also on the mind has emerged from approaches adopted in an academic discipline called economic statistics. Scientists suggest that global warming and natural disasters may cause mental health to deteriorate, resulting in an increase in psychiatric disorders such as depression. There is also data indicating that crime rates increase as temperatures rise. The WHO has pointed out that climate change poses a serious risk to mental health. In addition to measures to curb temperature rises, we need a health care system that supports both mental and physical health.

A variety of interconnected risk factors are involved in lifestyle-related diseases, and climate change further amplifies those risks. For example, people with diabetes mellitus (diabetes) are known to be more likely to develop several other lifestyle-related diseases, including cardiac disease, cerebrovascular disease, and kidney disease. When the impact of climate change is considered, these risk factors can intensify in a chain-reaction-like manner, accelerating the rise in lifestyle-related diseases. Additionally, reduced physical activity and sleep disturbances in extremely hot environments act as risk factors for cardiovascular disease and other conditions. We are now at a point where modifying our lifestyle has become essential.

It was in the 1960s that hay fever caused by common ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia) and Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica) was first reported in Japan. Since then, the prevalence of pollen allergy has grown year by year to such an extent that it is now called the “national disease” of Japan. The most common form of the disease is Japanese cedar pollinosis, from which approximately 40% of the Japanese population suffers. However, as Japanese cedar —— also known by its Japanese name, sugi —— is a resource essential to Japan's daily life and the conservation of its land, the Forestry Agency has been endeavoring to develop low-pollen varieties of the tree. Now, thanks to genome editing technology, improvements aimed at creating a variety that produces no pollen at all are progressing. There are high hopes that humans and sugi trees might be able to coexist.

Genome editing is a technology for manipulating genes by specifically cutting a target DNA sequence with the aid of a DNA cleavage enzyme. Unlike genetic recombination , which involves inserting exogenous genes, genome editing is regarded as a comparatively safe means of modifying an organism's genes and has become prevalent in a variety of fields. What has made this advance possible is an innovative genome editing tool called CRISPR-Cas9. The scientists who developed it were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2020. This tool has now opened up a wide range of possibilities for “manufacturing” that would be impossible without genome editing technology.

Marine forests filled with numerous seaweed species stretch along the Japanese coast. Known in Japan as the “cradle of the sea,” for the role they play in nurturing fish and shellfish, these beds of marine plants have now become the focus of attention as blue carbon ecosystems capable of absorbing and storing atmospheric CO₂. One project currently underway aims to tap into blue carbon ecosystems as CO₂ sinks, while also furthering the development of the fisheries industry. Hopes are growing that this measure to tackle global warming will succeed in Japan, given the nation's culinary culture of eating seaweed and abundant scientific knowledge of these marine plants.

Human activities have caused global warming via the emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs). That is now an unequivocal fact. And humankind is suffering the consequences of its own actions in the form of climate change caused by global warming. This warming is escalating rapidly on land, with serious impacts on food production. Japan imports at least 50% of its food. In short, what this means is that the countries producing our food are emitting GHGs attributable to agriculture for Japan's sake. To take steps to combat climate change, we must start by understanding this background and learning about the environmental burdens arising from daily life.

Hospital facility dogs are a special type of companion animal that are hand-picked while they are puppies and undergo two years of advanced training at a dedicated facility. Only then can they carry out their role. Working at hospitals and the like, hospital facility dogs provide comfort to everyone at the facility, especially to the patients. Providing support in situations involving a particularly substantial psychological burden is an important job that only hospital facility dogs can do, and the positive effects they have are steadily increasing. However, as only a very limited number of Japanese hospitals have introduced hospital facility dogs to date, more widespread support is needed.

The term "human augmentation" tends to call to mind images of the kind of devices you find in science fiction that allow people to exhibit superhuman abilities, like a robot suit that enables you to fly through the sky or gives you the strength to lift objects that would normally be too heavy for a person to carry. However, human augmentation is already supporting our work and our daily lives; for example, at building sites, remotely controlled construction machinery is lessening the burden on workers. In rehabilitation settings, too, assistive exercise equipment based on artificial muscles are reportedly now enabling people to bring out their innate abilities.

Scientists have discovered that, rather than operating independently, our five senses —— sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell —— affect each other while creating a single sensation. Research now underway aims to use virtual reality (VR) technology to shed light on and apply the "cross-modal perception" gained in this way. Scientists say that making various senses intersect makes it possible to create an environment in which people can demonstrate their abilities more readily. They have also found that this gives rise to positive psychological effects.